21limited
No longer a newbie, moving up!
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Coming home from shopping in town an hour away from our house....this is on Highway 60 in Algonquin Park, just 40 meters or so just off the highway.. This is a road many drive up from Toronto to drive up and down looking for wildlife sightings.
Behind the moose is an old decommissioned road, it had just ambled down, I'd parked, exited my car and made my way down to a point, just across the water from her. A young moose, no parent preset which was somewhat concerning. You can see from the hair standing up on the back of her neck, somewhat concerned about my presence. But also because I was standing on the point she wanted to swim to. On an image taken a few minutes later, the hair on the back of her neck is down, and she is munching on a plant.
2010-11-08 AP Young mosse-3 by Norm Head, on Flickr
While I was snapping away, it obviously decided I wasn't a threat and decided to swim right past me, giving me a relative close up at 105mm on Sigma 70-300. That lens is excellent from 80-120, just not very good in the long end that you probably bought it for. Despite what people pay for thier long lenses, shorter and close is always better, (as long as you can get the framing you want.)
2010 Swimming calf moose worked-D-SF-S by Norm Head, on Flickr
As the moose passed by me, I moved down the shore line to the next point, getting there a bit ahead of the moose. This image is taken with an Optio WR 80 a 1:2.3 sensor camera unsuitable for low light. The noise on the original is so bad that once I denoised and sharpened I saw elements that were lost in the noise. The moose side is wet and you see reflections of the grass in front of her, on her side. Those are very hard to pick out in the original.
2010-11-08 AP-young moose and photographer image by Norm Head, on Flickr
From that position I took a couple more shots.
2010-11-08 AP Young mosse-2 by Norm Head, on Flickr
2010-11-08-Young-moose by Norm Head, on Flickr
She was enjoying a meal and paid little attention to me by this time. Although, I'm so close, shooting at 70mm and thinking of putting my 50mm F1.7 on. We'd already established I was cool. But the hair on her back is back up again, so comfortable enough to munch, but not entirely comfortable. A bunch of things, when you see a wild animal, look for signs of discomfort, like the hair on the back of the neck ( I would never be this close to a bull moose in rut. This is a yearling female calf, and not at all agressive. Know you’re animals, or don’t get close.) . Hold still, let them get used to your presence. Keep shooting, you never know which image is going to be the keeper, move for different angles as much as you can. The reflections in the second image were a surprise, I actually didn't notice them when I was shooting. A little back or little forward and those reflections weren't there. Don't con yourself into thinking you've taken the image that's the best. Use burst, shoot a lot of images. Select on your computer. It was 15 years ago, I took these images. I'm happy to post them now because they've been cleaned up in Topaz. You never know when modern AI software will give old images new life. Don't throw out images you like, just because they aren't quite up to your current standards, if you otherwise like the image.
The other memorable thing about these images. Two other photographers were there with me by the time I left, they took a few head shots, but didn't get the kinds of images I was getting, because their lenses were too long. That's right folks, you can pay the big bucks for the long lenses, and then miss shots becasue you didn't bring something shorter. Sometimes a cheap 70-300 is better than an expensive 600 ƒ4.
Behind the moose is an old decommissioned road, it had just ambled down, I'd parked, exited my car and made my way down to a point, just across the water from her. A young moose, no parent preset which was somewhat concerning. You can see from the hair standing up on the back of her neck, somewhat concerned about my presence. But also because I was standing on the point she wanted to swim to. On an image taken a few minutes later, the hair on the back of her neck is down, and she is munching on a plant.
2010-11-08 AP Young mosse-3 by Norm Head, on FlickrWhile I was snapping away, it obviously decided I wasn't a threat and decided to swim right past me, giving me a relative close up at 105mm on Sigma 70-300. That lens is excellent from 80-120, just not very good in the long end that you probably bought it for. Despite what people pay for thier long lenses, shorter and close is always better, (as long as you can get the framing you want.)
2010 Swimming calf moose worked-D-SF-S by Norm Head, on FlickrAs the moose passed by me, I moved down the shore line to the next point, getting there a bit ahead of the moose. This image is taken with an Optio WR 80 a 1:2.3 sensor camera unsuitable for low light. The noise on the original is so bad that once I denoised and sharpened I saw elements that were lost in the noise. The moose side is wet and you see reflections of the grass in front of her, on her side. Those are very hard to pick out in the original.
2010-11-08 AP-young moose and photographer image by Norm Head, on FlickrFrom that position I took a couple more shots.
2010-11-08 AP Young mosse-2 by Norm Head, on Flickr2010-11-08-Young-moose by Norm Head, on FlickrShe was enjoying a meal and paid little attention to me by this time. Although, I'm so close, shooting at 70mm and thinking of putting my 50mm F1.7 on. We'd already established I was cool. But the hair on her back is back up again, so comfortable enough to munch, but not entirely comfortable. A bunch of things, when you see a wild animal, look for signs of discomfort, like the hair on the back of the neck ( I would never be this close to a bull moose in rut. This is a yearling female calf, and not at all agressive. Know you’re animals, or don’t get close.) . Hold still, let them get used to your presence. Keep shooting, you never know which image is going to be the keeper, move for different angles as much as you can. The reflections in the second image were a surprise, I actually didn't notice them when I was shooting. A little back or little forward and those reflections weren't there. Don't con yourself into thinking you've taken the image that's the best. Use burst, shoot a lot of images. Select on your computer. It was 15 years ago, I took these images. I'm happy to post them now because they've been cleaned up in Topaz. You never know when modern AI software will give old images new life. Don't throw out images you like, just because they aren't quite up to your current standards, if you otherwise like the image.
The other memorable thing about these images. Two other photographers were there with me by the time I left, they took a few head shots, but didn't get the kinds of images I was getting, because their lenses were too long. That's right folks, you can pay the big bucks for the long lenses, and then miss shots becasue you didn't bring something shorter. Sometimes a cheap 70-300 is better than an expensive 600 ƒ4.
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